1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light detection device including a lens array and a photoelectric device array and a focus detection device provided with the light detection device, and an imaging apparatus provided with the focus detection device. Further, the invention relates to a method of producing such a light detection device and a method of detecting a focus.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, there has been known a focus detection device in which imaging light that comes out of an exit pupil of an objective lens is split through a group of microlenses and the split beams are incident into a pair of photoelectric devices to detect a state of focusing, i.e., a so-called TCL (Through Camera Lens) focus detection device (see, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. S55-115020 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,791). In the conventional focus detection device, a pair of photoelectric devices is provided for each microlens such that a combination of the pair of photoelectric devices and the associated microlens as a unit is repeatedly arranged to form a plurality of rows.
On the other hand, there are known techniques for providing micro honeycomb structures as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open Application No. 2007-112856 and Michael Lampton, “The Microchannel Image Intensifier”, Scientific American, November 1981, pp. 46-55.